Two directors opposed using city funds to subsidize youth baseball at Majestic Park last year, voting against awarding a $75,000 contract for services to the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission.
The Hot Springs Board of Directors adopted the ordinance authorizing the contract for summer youth baseball programs at the five-field complex on the site of the former Hot Springs Boys & Girl Club. The 5-2 vote came after a lengthy debate.
The board put the resolution extending the contract through the end of this year on tonight's consent agenda. Items the board deems routine and unnecessary to debate go on the consent agenda. The board adopts the items en masse at the start of its business meetings.
The ordinance authorizing the 2022 contract waived competitive bidding, citing the state statute that allows municipal governing bodies to forgo soliciting bids in "exceptional situations where this procedure is not feasible."
The resolution on tonight's consent agenda also waived competitive bidding, citing the renewal or extension of an existing contract. It's one of more than 20 exemptions the Legislature added to the specific purchases and contracts section of the state code in 2021.
The $413,241 general fund special appropriations services budget for 2023 allocated $175,000 for Majestic Park and High Impact Movement. The city contracts the latter for after-school and summer programs at the former Boys & Girls Club.
The city had a contract for youth baseball programs with the Boys & Girls Club prior to its dissolution in 2018. Three years of operating deficits led the Boys & Girls Club of America to revoke the local club's charter and the club's board to donate the baseball fields to the ad commission.
The city's contract with the club provided $30,000 for youth baseball in 2017.
District 1 Director Erin Holliday suggested at the board's October budget meeting that the city should solicit proposals from youth sports providers, a process that would allow other organizations to apply for funding, but the $75,000 for Majestic Park was the only money the city's $151.7 million 2023 budget allocated for youth sports contracts.
Holliday requested Majestic Park's financials and demographic information on players participating in its scholarship program prior to the 2022 contract being placed on the June 7 agenda. She and District 6 Director Steve Trusty voted against the ordinance.
No financial information was requested during last week's agenda meeting. The ad commission included a progress report with its request to renew the contract. It showed youth, adult and college tournaments Majestic Park hosted in April and May generated $920,881 in visitor spending.
The ad commission said more than 500 children participated in local leagues the facility hosted last spring. The commission has said it expects greater participation this year. More than 200 children signed up during the first week and a half of registration last month. Feb. 12 is the last day to register.
The following items are also on tonight's consent agenda:
• A resolution approving the purchase of a T86 T4 Bobcat compact track loader with attachments through the state's cooperative purchasing agreement with Sourcewell.
"It comes with a milling attachment," Public Works Director Ron Sievwright told the board. "It will allow us to reclaim asphalt and sweep it up instead of having to remove and replace it."
He said it can also be used for urban forestry and snow removal. He said the $147,716 cost was less than what the city budgeted. It will be paid from the street fund's special purpose equipment line item. The $3.84 million street fund budget allocated $176,000 for special purpose equipment.
• A resolution approving the purchase of a playground for Linden Park using Community Development Block Grant funds.
The $66,306 playground for 5-to-12-year-olds will be purchased through the state-approved contract for parks and recreation equipment. The city said the playground should be installed in the spring or summer and will be located south of the park's toddler playground.
The 2022 CDBG action plan the board adopted in July included $70,800 for the playground. It's one of 11 projects funded by the city's $460,152 CDBG allocation for the federal fiscal year that ended in September.
• A resolution approving funding for the city's contract of obligation with the state Division of Environmental Quality.
The contract assures the state that the city has funds to clean up and secure its solid waste transfer station in the event the site has to be shut down or abandoned. The financial assurance, calculated at $60,750, is required for the city's permit to operate the Services Lane facility.
Class 1, or degradable, solid waste brought to the transfer station gets sent to the Saline County Regional Solid Waste Landfill in Bauxite. The Cedar Glades Landfill Garland County owns and operates is a Class 4 facility permitted for construction and demolition debris, furniture and other bulky items.